Tybee officials, business leaders ready for tourist season

Dr. Elizabeth "Doll" Miller, at right, leads a group of runners around the Tybee Lighthouse just after 1 p.m. Friday. She turned back toward Savannah after reaching her 40th mile beneath the lighthouse. (Photo by Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News)

Tybee Island Police Chief Bob Bryson made the South Beach Pier part of his Groundhog Day patrol.

The sight of dozens of sunbathers on the beach on the same day Bryson was to participate in the annual pre-tourism season forum represented a not-so-subtle reminder that the offseason is rapidly waning.

“It’s going to be on us fast,” Bryson said, “but I know the Tybee Island police are going to be ready for it.”

Such was the message from all of the city of Tybee’s department heads to a gathering of two dozen island business leaders Thursday evening.

The forum was initiated last fall as a twice-yearly (preseason and postseason) exchange of ideas and information with the aim being to improve collaboration between the public and private sectors as it relates to tourism matters.

The forum touched on infrastructure improvements, parking and traffic plans, public safety issues and even “stealth toilets” that use less than a gallon per flush.

“We’ve come a long way in the past year in terms of collaboration and communication with the city,” said Amy Gaster, co-owner of Tybee Vacation Rentals and the chairman of the Tybee Island Tourism Council. “It’s good to see their continued awareness of the issues that we face here. We know there are issues that can’t be solved, like parking and traffic jams, but they are doing what they can and they are responsive.”

Parking is arguably the island’s greatest challenge on spring and summer weekends. The island saw a net gain of a handful of spaces over the winter and can accommodate between 1,600 and 2,000 cars at a time.

Tybee routinely sees car counts in excess of 10,000 vehicles on busy summer weekends. The results are traffic jams and disgruntled visitors, said Pete Ryerson, Tybee’s parking services director. Proactive steps like posting parking updates on the city’s website and through media channels, things the department did last year, are beneficial.

“We can’t make the island any bigger. The inflatable parking garage idea I had didn’t work out,” he said. “We’ve refined what we have. Did we find that five-acre lot we needed? No.”

All those cars are carrying loads of people. The overriding issues at last fall’s post-season meeting all involved public safety. The head of the Tybee Ocean Rescue, Hunter Robinson, shared four years worth of data.

Ocean Rescue has handled 7,681 incidents — from rescues and medical treatments to lost children and fights — since 2008. Tybee regularly ranks second among U.S. East Coast beaches in rescues during the season, behind only Brevard County, Fla., a locale known for rough and unpredictable conditions.

Robinson asked the business leaders, particularly those in the lodging industry, to help educate their guests on the areas of the beach that are guarded and are not. He urged them to work with him on creating a brochure outlining the beach’s safe and dangerous areas.

Robinson gave special attention to the South Beach sandbar, which can extend south across the Back River channel for more than a mile at low tide.

Another public safety issue highlighted at the forum was establishing corridors for emergency vehicles on busy weekends. Secondary streets that run parallel to Butler Avenue, such as Lovell, located one block west, would be closed to all but local traffic to allow police and fire access all over the island.

The absence of such lanes resulted in emergency services needing an hour to transport a rescued swimmer from the pier to Memorial University Medical Center for treatment despite having a police escort on July 4th weekend last year. The city is finalizing details to create those corridors for this summer, the police chief said.

One question that went unanswered Thursday involved the July 4th weekend.

Last year’s traffic issues led the heads of the fire, police and ocean rescue departments to push for the Tybee fireworks show to be moved from July 3rd to July 4th. The theory is holding the display on the same night as Savannah and other municipalities’ shows will result in a smaller — and more manageable crowd — at Tybee.

The idea caused angst among the retail and restaurant owners last year. But public safety officials Thursday reiterated their position that the show should move to July 4th. Gaster, with the tourism council, voiced her support for them.

The Tybee City Council will take up the issue at its next meeting.

“We don’t want to see anybody lose any money,” Bryson said, “but we don’t want to see anybody lose their life either.”

As for the “stealth toilets,” water and sewer director George Reese noted the city was selling the toilets to Tybee residents and businesses “at cost” for $160.50. The toilets are part of the city’s ongoing water conservation effort.

Tybee is limited on the amount of water it can draw out of the Floridan aquifer and often must take steps to cut its consumption, such as removing beach showers or cutting off water to the foot showers.

This year promises to test all the existing issues — and probably create a few more — said the tourism council’s Gaster.

“It’s going to be another record year,” she said. “The booking pace is very strong for the spring and early summer. The travel forecast is good. It’s good the city is communicating and has a plan to address issues as they come up.”

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So you wanna pack even more people into an already packed place... you wanna sell the beach, but you cut off water to the showers on the beach? Really?

Why don't you cut out that big water gun fight they have every year? I wonder how much water from the Florida Aquifier THAT little event soaks up?!?! But it's ok to turn off the water so people can walk around with sand stuck to their feet, and we need every resident to cut back on water usage, also.

And my personal opinion - I know its not worth two cents, but if you don't have ample spaces for everyone to park in, then that revokes your right to ticket any and every car on the island.

The self importance of some people amazes me. You can keep your dirty, tourist trap of a beach.